Wednesday, December 30, 2015

2015 has been the year of artificial intelligence, robots and the Internet of Things. These phenomena all challenge the notion of physicality and locality. Having lived in
New Zealand for 24 years, I have come to appreciate the Maori concept of
‘whakapapa,’ that is introducing yourself, not by your credentials or
achievements, but where you come from.Where is your mountain.Where is
your river.Where is the place and who
are the people that brought you here and shaped who you are.

I grew up on a farm from
which we looked west into West Virginia and north across the Mason Dixon Line
to Pennsylvania.My mountains are the
Allegheny Mountains and my river is the Youghegeny River in Western Maryland.
In fact, I have only recently come to appreciate the beauty of these Native
American place names.There were others
too, like Monongehala and the Susquehanna rivers—beautiful names.More beautiful than the more general, more
common regional name of Appalachia.

My ancestors were once
immigrants like me.Anna Barbara Kolb
came from Germany to seek a better life with her two sons in the mid-1800s
and the Kolb family is still farming those acres. My Mom's family have Amish roots, who married my Irish grandmother. The county I was born in hasn’t changed very
much over the years, and it was a great place to grow up!We lived off the land in a culture that I
came to appreciate when I studied sociology at university.

The other significant
mountain in my life is Denali (‘The Great One’ or Mt McKinley) in Alaska.Climbing Denali, the highest peak in North
America, was a life dream, which gave me the confidence to pursue my other life
dream, which was getting my PhD.

The thing about climbing
Denali and running the Grand Canyon and working 20-28 day courses in the
Colorado mountains or the Chihuahuan Desert was that I have experienced
considerable, unadulterated isolation with minimal or no contact with the
outside world.Such experiences are so
rare today.

Let’s not become dis-placed, disembodied
cyborgs.My experience growing up on a
farm and leading people in wilderness environments has taught me the value of
keeping our minds and bodies connected. Sociologist Anthony Giddens talks about
‘deterritorialization,’ which refers to mediated and virtual environments lifting us out of our local place.The danger of
losing touch with place and our physical selves is not new, but it is one that
is increasing rapidly as more and more of our world becomes increasingly virtual.

The Maori custom of introductions beginning with a deep sense of place provides important context for human interaction. Perhaps we all should find ways to 'reterritorialize' ourselves, to the physical places that matter to us.Have a happy, connected New Year!